Seriously? He's Preaching a Sob Story to Naruto?
by ladymiyah
Summary: The title really explains it all, but, basically, Naruto knows more than everyone thinks and really hates it when people preach their sob-stories to him. Neji is no exception. When Neji said that Naruto didn't understand what it was like to be branded during their fight it really annoyed me. So this is what Naruto should have said back.


Seriously? He's Preaching a Sob Story to _Naruto_?

**Author's Note: Okay, just to clear some things up-This is just a short little fic not to be taken completely seriously. Therefore, in this, Naruto is smarter than average, he is already aware of everybody's son storied because he spends time eavesdropping (lots of time) and he already knows every secret there is to know.**

**Takes place during Naruto's Exam fight with Neji**

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Naruto had been letting Neji win; he couldn't really be bothered to fight anyway. Due to this, he was now a beat up mess with closed chakra points pretending to be the ever hopeful, always stands back up, moron that he let people believe he was. And usually, Naruto was okay with people believing this.

Except, now Neji was about to start ranting.

About his sob story.

And that just pissed Naruto off.

Now, any other day Naruto would have had the patience to deal with this.

Today wasn't any other day.

Today, Naruto knew that orochimaru was about to attack and Gaara was about to go berserk and Sasuke was late; and Naruto just knew that meant Sasuke was going to be especially difficult and Dickish today.

Naruto hated it when Sasuke was being difficult.

Oh, wait, there they were, Sasuke and Kakashi, just shunshined into the fighters' booth…late…stupid idiots.

Naruto was in a really bad mood.

Neji, however, was unaware of this and so began his rant. "Very well. As you're so interested, I'll tell you about it," he said, voice carrying the posh tone of a Hyuuga, "The Hyuuga Clan's heritage of hatred!"

"Wait," Naruto suddenly interrupted, voice echoing around the silent arena, "Just wait one moment."

Shocked, Neji did just that and watched as Naruto sat down on the ground, stretched out his legs and leant back on his arms.

"Okay," Naruto said, "You can carry on now."

"What the hell?" Neji replied, tone a mixture of annoyed and confused. Who the hell was this kid to act so disrespectfully towards him?

"Hmm? I'm just getting comfortable." Naruto spoke, his words carrying an edge that told the occupants of the arena that that should have been obvious.

"Why the hell?" Neji rephrased, voice irritated.

"Why?" Naruto's voice was incredulous, "Because you're about to regale this entire arena with a sob story that no one gives a crap about."

"How dare you!" Neji screamed, outraged.

"How dare I? Easily," Naruto snorted, unmoving from his reclined position, "Look, I get it; you feel betrayed by your clan, abandoned by your father, like the whole freaking world is against you. But you're wrong. Hinata cares. You beat her to near death and she still cares."

"You know nothing!" shouted Neji, not liking where Naruto was directing the conversation.

"Nothing?" Naruto asked, a dangerous hint underlining his tone as if Neji had just said something he shouldn't have.

"Nothing," Neji repeated, fake confidence in his voice.

"I know everything," Naruto retorted, voice suddenly deeper and eyes stormy, "I make it my business to know everything. I know that your wacked clan uses the caged bird seal, a curse mark jutsu, on its branch members. I know that you witnessed it being used on your father once, by your own _uncle_. I know that you think you should be of main branch because your father and uncle were twins and you are the most powerful Hyuuga in your generation. I know that Hinata was almost kidnapped by cloud when she was three and Hiashi, her father and your uncle, killed the cloud ninja that did it. I know that the Cloud demanded Hiashi's head and I know that Hizashi, your father and Hiashi's identical twin, was sacrificed instead. I know that makes you angry, resentful, maybe even vengeful and I know that is why you beat Hinata. I also know something you don't. That being that your father chose to die because he loved his brother and because he wanted to choose his own fate. The proof of this fact being in the letter he left in Hiashi's possession to give to you when you were ready."

Neji was speechless, unable to utter a word as he let his mouth gape open. How on earth did this _kid_ know all this?

Naruto ignored him and, after taking a breath, carried on, "So you see, Neji, I know a lot about you. The same way I know that Hinata hates the way the Hyuuga clan operates and will change it when she becomes leader. The same way I know that Anko shares the same curse mark Orochimaru just placed on Sasuke. The same way I know that Danzo is still running his root Anbu beneath the Hokage's nose. The same way I know that the truth behind the Uchiha Massacre is that the Uchiha were planning a coup and Danzo gave Itachi an ultimatum; Die with his clan, including his precious little brother, or be the one to kill his clan so that he could protect the Leaf and his little brother. The same way, Neji, that I know both Madara and Obito Uchiha are still alive, they were behind the Kyuubi attack, and my father was The Fourth Hokage!" his voice has grown louder as he became more passionate, standing up as he did, and it echoed menacingly in the silence that had fallen.

"I…Uhh…" Neji stuttered before blinking and shaking himself out of a shocked daze, "That may be, but, you still know nothing of pain. You have no right to speak of others pasts when you know nothing. You don't know what it's like to be branded with a mark that sets you apart, a mark that can never be wiped away!"

In the stands someone winced audibly at that statement.

Naruto abruptly calmed, a strange sense of amusement becoming evident in both his posture and his voice, "Oh Neji, honey. I am literally the worst possible person you could have ever said that to" he paused to give a short, shallow laugh, "Seriously, I'm not kidding. I know everything of pain, I know more pain than the majority of the ninja in this village, and I knew that pain by the time I was six. I'm their scapegoat you see. They needed someone to hate, to blame, and because I was the closest thing to what they hated, they chose me."

He paused, swallowing back a mixture of anger and sorrow, "Understand this; I was a child. I was a very young child who was entirely alone. Who didn't understand why they hated me. Who had an entire village wishing me an agonising death. _Agonising_. I found out, of course, in the end, why they hated me. Really, it's rather obvious. The fourth had to seal the fox away in a baby, and how could he ask someone else to sacrifice their child if he wasn't willing to do the same."

Suddenly, fury and pain swept over Naruto's face and he violently ripped his t-shirt up to show the entire arena the mark on his belly.

His voice was bitter as he carried on, "I know exactly what it is like to be branded, but unlike you, I don't have an entire family of people just like me who want to support me. I have no one. And you know what makes it worse?" he laughed, the same bitterness echoing in his voice, "I found out the truth because, when I was six, a couple of chuunin from _our_ village beat me to the verge of death and in doing so they allowed me to meet with the giant-ass fox sealed in my gut. And that fox _willingly_ healed me. He healed me because, unlike every _human_ that I know, instead of seeing a demon he saw a terrified child. A terrified child who just didn't understand. That fox showed me more _compassion_ and _humanity_ than anybody in this village ever did. What the hell does that say about us, huh? That a demon fox is less of a demon than us humans." Naruto took a deep breath, blinking back tears, and when he next spoke it was heart-shatteringly soft, "You know, people claim that to hurt a child, to take away their innocence, is the act of a monster. Well then surely, if these people had wanted a monster so bad, they should have just gone and looked in a mirror."

Naruto's words rang in the heavy silence and not a single person could bring themselves to believe that they had a worse sob-story, Many of the younger generation found themselves revolted at what people had done to their precious comrade and many of the older generation could not bare to look at Naruto after having their actions thrown so harshly back into their faces.

He was right, they were the monsters.

"You're preaching to the choir, Neji," Naruto whispered into the silence, "There are so many people sat in this stadium who could speak endlessly about their terrible pasts. In the reality of it all, you're one of the lucky ones. Lucky, because you still have a hell of a lot of people who care enough to lend you a hand when you fall down. Don't come raging to me about your pain, don't come raging to me about vengeance. I have more reason than anyone to want vengeance and I refuse to stoop that low. So don't, just don't, preach to me and expect me to be on your side."

Neji, gobsmacked, nodded and stayed silent, unable to refute anything that had been said.

He also found that he didn't want to. Naruto was right, after all, he was lucky. It was high time he stopped taking advantage of that.

A few more minutes of silence past, the atmosphere both tense and awkward, before Naruto decided to break it.

"Well, now that's all out in the open there's really only one thing left to do. Our fight is over Neji, I don't want to waste my energy on you," he said bluntly, leaving a ticked off Neji, before turning to face the Hokage's box, "Orochimaru, enough of these ridiculous games. You can stop playing Kazekage, actually it would be really helpful if you did. I imagine your ridiculous little invasion attempt is going to be a wonderful distraction from all the secrets I just spilled."

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**Okay, just a little one-shot I probably shouldn't have written 'cause I should be focusing on my other fic, but, whatever.**

**I know that got a little heavier than I intended and I deviated from canon _a lot_, but, I hope you enjoyed it anyway.**


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